When Channel Four reporter Terez Montiel disappears while investigating the murder of a woman in a local sex cult, Tucson private eye Trade Ellis is hired by her sister to find her.
          Trade’s investigation takes her to Poppy Randall, the last person that Terez interviewed for her story. Poppy hides her out in a cave where Trade’s small peep hole affords her a limited view of the bits and pieces of sexual debauchery that comprise the secret Kiva Society gatherings. Run by the mysterious masked woman, Raven, a mouthpiece for the head priest, Eagle, the Kiva meets late into the night. Discovered, but not revealed, by one of the Kiva guards, Trade finally makes her way home, only to discover that what she has witnessed has tainted her soul.
          Relying on University of Arizona cult expert Thomas Burkett for information on the secret group, Trade struggles with her investigation. And what is it about Ann Aldridge, Trade’s client and Terez’s sister? Her art depicting mutilated dolls is obviously macabre, but is there something more? And Dr. Aldridge, famed family psychologist, clearly seems more intent on his beloved bonsais than on finding his missing daughter.
        To compound matters, Cori Elena, ex-girlfriend of Trade’s ranch foreman, Martin, is getting married at the Vaca Grande within weeks.
        Trade starts drinking more, sleeping less. And to further complicate her life, she goes to bed with one of her old loves, Abel Messenger, from the County Attorney’s Office and later wonders why. Was she attempting an exorcism from what she witnessed in the cave?
       Confused with the way her life is going, Trade retreats to the San Carlos Reservation where her wise grandmother, Shiwoye, watches over a sweat bath purification ritual.
        With her demons behind her and determined to find Terez Montiel, Trade returns to Tucson only to find her client murdered.
When the private eye discovers a key in Ann Aldridge’s Traggedy Ann doll, it begins to unlock the case. Ann’s secret storage room reveals layers of intrigue – a feathered raven mask, old journals depicting childhood abuse, and a photograph linking Ann and the Kiva Society to one of Trade’s trusted sources.
        Driving home late one night, Trade is accosted and told, “This is a lot bigger thing than you think it is. There’s a lot at stake here.”  Within days the Tucson Police Department along with the DEA both tell her to forget about finding the missing television reporter.
       Like a bulldog with a bone in its mouth, Trade forges ahead with her own investigation.
       Which is a good thing. Because she is the only one who can save Terez Monteil.